Trevor rand oh, my god, i would say, anything goes, like, a wild west, lawless place. Female people get verbally abusive on bart. Male [bleep, bleep] and i didnt have the baby. Jessica blanca youll see people naked. [woman screaming] Cheryl Rogers you know, its awful walking by all the homeless people. Male ive seen people, you know, shooting up on bart. Announcer two subjects smoking or doing heroin. Male ive seen people getting into physical fights. [female shouting] male announcer patrons are reporting an active fight in train car 1699. Female as i was running out of the bart parking lot, i heard a bloodcurdling scream. Michelle beltrain he just, like, punched her in the face, right across the face. She was reading a book, didnt see it coming. Bigad shaban how are people supposed to feel safe when this is what theyre seeing on bart . Ed alvarez unfortunately, we cant have our officers on every train and every station. Bigad weve heard complaints from riders who feel like bart frankly hasnt been that transparent. Bob powers oh, i would disagree with that. I think bart is very transparent. Bigad for months, weve reviewed tens of thousands of crime reports, spent days and nights recording on the train, and spoke with barts top leaders to find out how a worldclass Transportation System went from this, to this. [commotion, shouting] bigad so hold on, cause theres no telling where the story will take us. Announcer for San Francisco transfer and departures bigad just about everyone in the bay area seems to have a bart story good, bad, weird, sometimes even dangerous. Violent crime on bart has more than doubled over the past few years, so whats behind it . Who can stop it . And if you dont feel safe on bart, then when can you expect that to change . Over the past couple of months, weve been riding bart throughout the bay area at all hours of the night to find out how a sophisticated Transportation System that runs through the tech capital of the world got derailed. Bigad just type in bart on social media, and there is a lot to see, a lot. Some, of you probably wish you could unsee. There are entire online groups dedicated to the bizarreness of bart. Iguanas sitting in seats, humans sitting in the garbage cans. Bigad and sure, its plenty of innocent stuff, musical acts, impressive acrobatics, but along with performers pulling out all the stops, some riders are pulling out weapons. This guys wielding a long knife. A woman whipped out her taser on bart after claiming her phone was stolen. Male give her, her phone. Bigad and this man revved up not one, but two chainsaws. Yeah, i said, chainsaws. Jessica blanca nobody cares. You know what i mean . Nobody really cares about what happens on bart anymore. Bigad this is jessica blanca. Shes 22 and grew up riding bart just about every day. Jessica you will literally see any and everything here, and its just gonna happen, its just gonna be okay. Bigad and accept it . Jessica and accept it. Youre gonna at least find one wacky thing through your commute throughout the day. Bigad thats just a given . Jessica just a given. Bigad like what . Jessica youll see people naked. Bigad youve seen people naked on bart . Jessica yeah. Yeah, its just crazy people. Ive seen people use the bathroom on bart. Ive seen people bigad hold on, youve seen people use the bathroom on bart . Jessica ive seen, literally, a homeless person take his pants down and use the bathroom on bart. Bigad on more than one occasion . Jessica more than one occasion, more than one occasion. Like i said, this is my whole life, its normal. Bigad whats also becoming increasingly normal on bart is Violent Crime, spiking more than 115 over the past few years. While that includes homicide and rape, robbery and aggravated assault make up the vast majority of Violent Crime here. Bart has argued its crime rate was relatively low last year with only four Violent Crimes for every one million rides, but we compared that with subway systems in los angeles, new york, d. C. , and atlanta, and found bart had the highest rate of Violent Crime, making it one of the most dangerous Transportation Systems in the country. Announcer three killings and five days at bart station. Female announcer and this is where bart police say a rider was assaulted last wednesday. Bigad and the attacks sometimes come out of nowhere. Michelle beltrain i was sitting in the aisle, then there was this guy who kept walking up and down the aisle. Bigad michelle beltrain rides bart every weekday. She was on her normal commute from daly city to San Francisco when she noticed a guy on the train. Michelle as he was walking back, he sucker punched this woman in front of me. Bigad he punched a woman . Michelle yeah, he just, like, punched her in the face, right across the face. She was reading a book. Didnt see it coming. Bigad so didnt even know her. Michelle no, i think its just a reminder that we just need to be more careful, and i carried pepper spray when i was commuting to macarthur cause i never knew what was gonna happen. Bigad the lack of police on trains is one of the biggest complaints among riders, according to barts own service. So after hearing your stories, seeing your posts on social media, and going over the crime stats, we decided to document our own experiences on bart. So for the past couple of months, we have been riding and reporting all across the bay area. Bigad i just got to the civic center stop here in San Francisco. This is the fruitvale station. Bigad montgomery street station. Bigad were here at west oakland. Bigad and theres a guy Walking Around in a hockey mask, like from those horror movies, and it looked like he was gonna walk onto the track, so these two bart employees stopped him. Bigad and it looks like theres no cushions. We also discovered there are people on bart who rip out seats, while others apparently bring their own. Male you wanna buy this ring . Bigad this guy tried selling my producer used jewelry. Male buy that ring . Oh, im good. Bigad then theres these women fighting near the platform, and, yes, thats the sound of one of them trying to taze the other. We also caught people openly doing drugs, repeatedly. Bigad bart has its own police force, more than 170 officers. So where are they . Jessica they dont reallynever really get on trains. I think ive seen police twice. Bigad only twice . And youve been riding bart your whole life . Jessica yeah. Ed so im currently the interim chief of police for the bart Police Department. Bigad so what does barts top cop have to say about all this . Bigad do you have enough officers right now to protect passengers . Ed no. Bigad ahead on derailed. Bigad this photo here actually shows someone holding a knife. How are people supposed to feel safe when this is what theyre seeing on bart . Female my baby gone. She was only 18. She didnt ask for this. Male at this point, i just want justice for my daughters. Bigad a teenager stabbed to death while waiting to board bart. Jessica the whole thing with nia wilson, who can really feel safe . A former army medic, made of the we maflexibility to handle members like kate. Whatever monday has in store and tackle four things at once. So when her car got hit, she didnt worry. She simply filed a claim on her usaa app and said. I got this. Usaa insurance is made the way kate needs it easy. She can even pick her payment plan so its easy on her budget and her life. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. Usaa bigad building bart took five years and 1. 6 billion. Sure, it was delayed and over budget, but it was also revolutionary with its original 75 miles of track that included the nearly fourmile tunnel connecting San Francisco to oakland male announcer with the worlds longest underwater tube. Bigad well, it was at the time it opened, back in 1972. Michael healy once upon a time bigad barts former director of Public Affairs and now bart historian, michael healy, was one of the first to ride the initial line from fremont to oakland. Michael oh, i think the bay area was very excited, and we had 100,000 people ride the system in just that one short line in the first week. Bigad the system garnered so much attention, even president nixon wanted to get on board. Michael i was on the train, i was on the car with the president and his wife. There was a lot of excitement on the whole idea of a brandnew service, spaceage kind of a system. Bigad healy says the sleek look and Aerospace Technology used for bart helped spark a Public Transit renaissance, inspiring similar rail systems in washington d. C. And atlanta. Michael barts cars were designed to really represent a spaceage look. The whole idea there was to also be able to market bart as well. In other words, you know, the promise was that this was gonna be a brandnew spaceage system. Announcer bart will prove to be the most beautiful system in the world. Bigad barts old promotional videos included a lot of hype over what life would be like once all the construction was done. Announcer and when its completed, you and the bay area will not only feel better, youll both look better. In the powell street station, youll look Something Like this. Bigad but now we have stations that look like that. And that. And that. A system once worldrenowned for safety, design, and technology is now synonymous for some with homelessness, drug use, and violence. Trevor rand you should expect the unexpected, be on alert. Bigad trevor rand rides bart every weekday to get to work. He commutes from burlingame to San Francisco. Bigad how would you explain whats normal on bart . Trevor oh, my gosh, i would say, you know, anything goes, its like a wild west, lawless place. Im almost desensitized to some of the crazy things that i see on bart. Bigad that crazy can be violent, even deadly. Female he got a knife, walkin through the bart. Bigad it was last summer when 18yearold nia wilson was stabbed to death for no reason while waiting for a bart train in oakland. Female my baby gone. She was only 18. She didnt ask for this. Male at this point, i just want justice for my daughters. Bigad Dominic Wilson was her boyfriend. Dominic wilson she was always there for mealways. Bigad a memorial soon grew. Male justice. All we want justice. Bigad and so did calls to improve safety across bart. Jessica it definitely made me look around a little bit more. Especially being a young, you know, woman, you cant really feel too safe. Bigad after nia wilson was killed, did that change your perception of bart . Jessica no, because, before nia wilson, there was oscar grant. Bigad it was more than a decade ago when 22yearold oscar grant was pinned down by bart police, and shot in the back at the Fruitvale Bart station. The officer who killed him was convicted, but only served 11 months of his twoyear sentence. The now former cop says he thought he pulled out his taser, not his gun. Killing sparked protests, National Conversations about race female we want justice for that. The police is gettin away with murder. Bigad and a hollywood film. Female what did you do . Oh, my god. Male good, im good. Im good. Im gon be good. Were gon be good. Bigad the question of how to police the bart system is a complicated one. Some riders are uneasy about the idea of increasing the number of Police Officers here on the trains. Last month, those concerns escalated again after this now viral facebook post. Bart rider steve foster said he was put in handcuffs after eating a breakfast sandwich on the train platform. Steve foster all this different stuff thats so much more important, and you mess with a guy eatin his sandwich . Bigad eating in the area is banned, but bart says the man refused to stop and wouldnt give officers his name. So Police Detained him and ultimately gave him a citation. Soon after, frustrated riders staged an eatin as a way to protest bart officers, with some demanding bart shrink its police force. Bigad but other passengers are genuinely afraid about what they see as a lack of Police Presence on bart, and they refuse to ride anymore, no matter what. Anthony delgado im scared. Bigad whats it been like going through this . Anthony hell. Bigad coming up on derailed. Anthony he hit me right here, broke my face in three places. You shouldnt have to feel scared to ride bart or any public transportation, and, yet we are. Bigad are passengers safe on bart . Ed yes. Bigad if youre saying bart is safe, but passengers dont actually feel that way, doesnt that mean your Police Department is frankly failing at its main job . We all have things we love and long for. A place, a feeling, a moment. But only kerrygold can take you there. To irelands lush, green pastures. Where grassfed cows produce rich, creamy milk for the most delicious taste imaginable. Thats no ordinary cheese. No. Its kerrygold. Kerrygold. The taste that takes you there. Anthony i have a Screw Holding up my forehead. I have a plate holding in my eyeball cause it could fall out at any time if i sneeze or cough too hard. Bigad Anthony Delgado struggles to see out of his left eye. The 52yearold janitor was attacked while cleaning outside a bart station in San Franciscos mission district. Anthony as i leaned over to pick up some garbage, i just saw something shiny coming towards me. I dont know if it was the butt of a gun or some brass knuckles, but i know it was something shiny. Bigad he struck you in the face . Anthony yes, broke my face in three places. Bigad delgado says the man accused him of throwing away his lunch, and then hurled towards him. Three years later, delgado is still recovering. Bigad how many surgeries have you had so far . Anthony four surgeries. Eventually, ill need another to put in another screw to hold that upa thicker screw. Bigad whats it been like, going through this . Anthony hell. Bigad the man accused of assaulting him was banned from riding bart after the attack, according to court records, but delgado tells us that was never enforced since he continued to see the man at bart stations. Now wants more officers located at stops and on trains. Anthony its dangerous out there. I mean, it shouldnt have to be. You shouldnt have the feel scared to ride bart or any public transportation, and, yet we are. Bigad we obtained and reviewed thousands of Police Records and learned the location of delgados attack. The bart station at 16th and mission was the site of at least 44 Violent Crimes over the past five years. Its actually the thirdmost dangerous bart stop in San Francisco. First is civic center, followed by its neighboring stop, powell street. Over that same time period, we discovered more than 1,800 Violent Crimes were committed all across bart. The coliseum stop in oakland is the most dangerous with 154 Violent Crimes, followed by fruitvale with 121, bay fair, 113, and west oakland with 88. You learn the top five most dangerous bart stops are all in the east bay. Bigad are passengers safe on bart . Ed alvarez yes. Bigad ed alvarez is barts interim police chief. Hes only been in the position since may, but he spent the past two decades working his way up the departments ranks. Bigad if youre saying bart is safe, but passengers dont actually feel that way, doesnt that mean your Police Department is frankly failing at its main job . Ed no; i mean, were out there, focused. I mean, were a microcosm of the cities that we traverse. We go some pretty big cities in the bay area, and, you know, were not immune to crime. I mean, unfortunately, stuff happens, and it comes onto our system. Bigad to explain how, the chief showed us a weeks worth of crime plotted around San Francisco. This is all the crime that got reported to San Francisco police in the area surrounding the bart stop, but heres the crime that actually took place inside bart. Ed we have seven calls for service in one of our busiest stations in downtown San Francisco when they have over 570 in the same area, so that just kind of gives a good perspective to the type of crimes and the number of crimes that we get in our system. Bigad just because theres surrounding crime here in San Francisco doesnt exactly excuse what happens on bart. So we showed the chief what we found and asked what he plans to do about it. Bigad here is a guy who was wearing a mask. He was trying to get on the tracks. This one, this photo here, actually shows someone holding a knife. How are people supposed to feel safe when this is what theyre seeing on bart . Ed unfortunately, we cant have our officers on every train in every station. Its justthats not feasible. We dont have the staffing to allow us to do that. Its gonna be just us continuing to do our efforts and keep being out there, increase our presence, and the way we do that is by hiring more officers. Bigad right now, the department is home to about 176 officers, even though bart police is budgeted to have roughly 14 more. Bigad whats been the problem in hiring more officers . Ed everybody in Law Enforcement in the area, in the state, in the country, are lookin for the same pool of candidates that were lookin for. Bigad do you have enough officers right now to protect passengers . Ed no; i mean, we wanna have our Police Department up in the 300s if we can. Bigad some would be alarmed to hear the bart police chief say you frankly dont have enough officers to keep people safe. Ed yeah, i think, if you ask, any police chief across the country will always tell you that we never have enough. Bigad what do you think your Department Needs that could make a substantial difference right now . Ed a thousand Police Officers. You give me a thousand Police Officers, i could put officers in every station, train, parking lot, that we have throughout our district. Bigad a thousand more . Ed absolutely, yeah, the more officers i have, the more i could do. Bigad so that obviously is not realistic. So if that doesnt happen, people arent gonna see a change . Ed theyre gonna see a change cause were gonna continue to hire. If we could stick to our fiveyear staffing analysis, which is about 96 officers, if we can get that in those five years, i think we could make a huge dent into our crime. Bigad do you think thats realistic . Ed absolutely, absolutely. Bigad that is, if bart gives him enough funding to make those hires, but putting more cops here at bart stations is definitely something weve heard a lot about from riders. Female we are vulnerable. Bigad youre worried about your own safety . Female yeah, my safety, someone else in the train, you know. Itsi always think about it more than ever before. Bigad when it comes to the question of whether youre actually safe on bart, well, that largely depends on who you ask. Bigad just by show of hands, how many of you have ever felt unsafe while riding bart . About half . Bigad there are some riders who feel perfectly at ease on bart, no safety concerns at all. Cheryl rogers no, never. Bigad Cheryl Rogers says all you have to do is avoid riding at night. Cheryl its not the being on bart thats the problem for me alone at night. Its getting from the bart station to wherever im going in the street that i dont like. Bigad but even shed like to see more officers on bart. Cheryl so that people feel safe, then well ride it more. Bigad but you wont find Anthony Delgado on board. He says hes already reached the end of the line. Anthony i lost all confidence in the system completely. I was vigilant, and it still happened. I dont want it to happen to somebody else. I really dont. Its an awful feeling. Id wake up with nightmares often. I will not leave my house at nighttime. Im justim scared, and i just dont want other people to go through this. Bigad do you think this is something youll ever be able to get over . Anthony no, not the way the system treated me, no. Bigad still ahead on derailed. Bigad amanda, so we wanted to catch up with you about bart. Amanda leith this might be one where we do wanna pursue it further because its probably going to require some sort of litigation. Ben friedland their being tightlipped is just making it more dangerous for people who wanna be safe. Bigad if you support being more transparent, why has bart seemingly taken steps to keep information from the public . Ed im not aware of that. I mean, were all about being transparent. Wean air force veteran made of doing whats right,. Not whats easy. So when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. Thats how you do it right. Usaa insurance is made just the way martins family needs it with hasslefree claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. Because doing right by our members, thats whats right. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. Usaa bigad youre good, kevin . Kevin nious yeah. Bigad whats wrong . Kevin now, where do you want your phone . Amanda this is amanda. Bigad amanda, so we wanted to catch up with you about bart. Amanda yeah, i talked to their attorney. Theyre saying theyre not gonna give you anything. Theyre claiming theyre all exempt. Bigad so, at this point, bart isnt gonna give us any surveillance . Amanda anything. No, no. If were gonna try and get them, its probably gonna require some sort of litigation. Bigad we have been talking to riders here and online whove seen and experienced some pretty unusual and sometimes scary stuff on bart, and many think sharing their stories and raising awareness can help protect other passengers. Jackie gulik it was getting light. We each stood at the bart station, and we were met with a group of really hostile, really high, homeless people. Richard davis and this was the first time i had ever seen anybody smoke crack on a train. Paul wolfe so on my train, we stopped, and then, after a little delay, i found outand i could actually hear itthere was a guy above me, like, standing on the train. Jackie it made us feel really uneasy and really uncomfortable and actually really unsafe. So we just jumped in an uber and got out of there. Paul apparently, he was screaming like im king of the mountain. Some of the guys saw it, and it was a little scary hearing somebody up there. Jackie if people share their experiences of using the bart, it would be helpful for People Like Us who are visiting San Francisco to plan our trips better. Bigad while a lot of passengers are eager to share their crime stories, some arent so sure bart wants you to hear of them. Male give her, her phone. Give her, her phone. Ben friedland ive seen people turning it into a toilet. Ive seen [bleep] all over the floor. Ive seen people shooting up, needles on the ground. Bigad Ben Friedland is driven by data. Hes a Software Engineer who was inspired two years ago when bart removed detailed crime reports off its website and replaced those logs with maps that contained far fewer details about crimes, and thats what pushed friedland to create bartcrimes. Com, a website that lets riders read a detailed account about major crimes all across the Transportation System. Ben their being tightlipped is just making it more dangerous for people who wanna be safe. Bigad but crime logs arent the only thing bart seems hesitant to share. Bigad we want to get a sense of what kinds of threats passengers have actually faced on bart, so back in july, my producer kevin nious, submitted a request for barts own Surveillance Footage of crimes. These are videos that were used to close more than 100 criminal cases. So, again, these are crimes that are no longer under investigation, and because bart is a public agency, it has to comply with requests for public records, but bart wouldnt give us the videos. It argued the footage was exempt. So we got our attorney involved. Amanda this is amanda. Bigad thats our attorney amanda leith. Shes senior counsel for nbc news in new york. Bigad so we wanted to catch up with you about bart. Amanda yeah, i talked to their attorney. Bigad so, at this point, bart isnt gonna give us any anything . Amanda anything; no, if were gonna try and get them, its probably going to require some sort of litigation. Theyre taking a position that they are still exempt under 6254 f . Amanda as you know, they take the position that doesnt terminate even when the investigations are over. Kevin nious now, that exemption, does that mean that they cannot give it to us, or does that mean that it gives them the choice to not give it to us . Amanda its a little of both. I mean, it means they dont have to give it to you because, as i said, it doesnt terminate when the investigation does. That being said, our argument was that it isnt clearly exempt because these werent videos that were created for the investigation. Kevin at one point, it seemed like they were going to give us the videos; did something just change . Amanda i agree with you, that was the impression i got on the First Response from him, but then he kept saying he had to have meetings with people, that he was gonna be consulting with people, and that was the response i got after that meeting. Bigad all right, thanks, amanda. Amanda all right, take care. Bigad so, nothing. Kevin disappointing, but not surprising. Bigad its interesting because both the police chief and the new general manager at bart told us, at one point, that they were one of the most transparent organizations out there. Ed i mean, were all about being transparent. We put our information out there. We dont hide from anybody. We have a citizens review board that we report out to every month. We have a office of the independent Police Auditor that also reviews our policies and procedures, so were transparent. We put all our information on our website. Our policies and procedures are out there, so were not trying to hide anything. Bigad weve talked to riders who feel that bart is largely trying to downplay crimes within the system by removing data from the website. Theyve cited denials at their request for surveillance videos, and even actually discouraging people from Filing Police reports. So i guess, sort of, big picture, if you support being more transparent, why has bart seemingly taken steps to keep information from the public . Ed im not aware of that. I know, when we get public records requests and were able to produce that information, we do it. Some of the stuff with regards to videos, theyre active investigations, and some of that stuff, we just cant release. Bigad our team is still working to get those surveillance videos from bart, but we were able to get our hands on Something Else the price tag for these tiny and temporary silver barriers that were supposed to keep nonpaying riders out. Weve discovered bart paid 84,000 for just two months of use. So did the barriers work, or were they just a really expensive bad idea . Bigad up next on derailed. Bigad for a lot of passengers, those changes frankly looked laughable. Did you honestly think those gates would make a difference . Ed its justits a prototype. Its stuff that theyre just puttin out there. Bigad bart recently hired a new general manager who decided to start a listening tour to find out what riders really want. Bob powers anything you wanna share . Bigad so what did he hear, and whats he plan to do about it . Thats our next stop. We all have things we love and long for. A place, a feeling, a moment. But only kerrygold can take you there. To irelands lush, green pastures. Where grassfed cows produce rich, creamy milk for the most delicious taste imaginable. Thats no ordinary cheese. No. Its kerrygold. Kerrygold. The taste that takes you there. Bigad riders who skip out on paying, cost bart an estimated 25 million each year. Bart fare inspectors are in charge of catching those trying to get a free ride. They can issue 75 tickets, but there are only 11 inspectors for all of bart. The agency now hopes to just about double that team within the next year. In the meantime, to keep fare evaders off trains, bart spent close to 200,000 renovating fare gates at two stations and installed these stacked barriers at one and these tiny bladelooking things in another. Theyre not actually sharp, and bart later painted them orange, maybe to look less bladelike. Theyre called popup barriers, but they only added a few more inches to the gates that were already there. Ed these are all prototypes. Bigad thats ed alvarez, barts interim police chief. Bigad for a lot of passengers, those changes frankly looked laughable. Did you honestly think those gates would make a difference . Ed its a prototype, the stuff that theyre just puttin out there. Bigad but people can pretty easily get past those barriers. It just seems, for some, like a waste of money. Ed i dont think youll ever, 100 , stop any crime or fare evasion or any of that qualityoflife issues from comin into our system, but were gonna do the best we can to try to limit it. Bigad after the new gates went up, bart said it did see a decrease in the number of people sneaking through to catch a free ride. Those bladelike additions cut down fare evaders by 31 . The stacked barriers 60 . The barts board of directors recently nixed both designs and, instead, unanimously approved larger, swingstyle gates like these. Bigad installing the new barriers at each of barts 48 stations will cost about 150 million, but just when that will happen is unclear because bart still doesnt know where its gonna find all that money to build the new gates. Bob powers im the new general manager with bart. Bigad finding those millions is now this guys job. Bob is this your train . Bigad bob powers took over as general manager for bart about four months ago. As part of the new gig, hes periodically visiting bart stations to speak directly to passengers. Bob anything you wanna share . Bigad what are you hearing from riders . Bob the homelessness and the fare evasion seem to be constant themes that, you know, people notice. Male its like theyve never paid a bart ride in their life. Bob we are all over it; we got the new approval for some new swing gates, and werewe call it hardening the stations. Bigad do you think riders are safe on bart . Bob i do. I think bart is a safe system. Bigad the reality is Violent Crime has more than doubled over the last few years. Bob i would push back and say thats because of the cell phone thefts, and if i pull the cell phone thefts out, thats not an accurate statement. Bigad but those are still crimes that are being committed. Bob they are, they are. Bigad okay, i wanna pause here for just one minute to explain whats happening. We looked at the crime stats and discovered that Violent Crime on bart, which includes rape, robberies, aggravated assault, and murder, increased by 115 between 2014 and 2018. So that means Violent Crime on bart has more than doubled. What bart is now saying is that the rate of Violent Crime is only high if you include Violent Crimes where cell phones are taken, but heres the thing why should that matter . If someone steals anything from you, using force or even the threat of force, by the fbis own definition, thats a Violent Crime. Bigad some might think, hearing that, barts just trying to minimize the problem. Bob no, no, not at all. Were trying to eliminate the problem. I mean, if everybodys paying attention to their surroundings and i have a fully staffed bart Police Department, the goal is to eliminate that kind of behavior. Bigad your own police chief says he frankly doesnt have enough officers right now to keep people safe. Bob well, look, i think the first thing i would say is were gonna get to a fully staffed bart Police Department. The second part of it is to make sure that our Police Department is out in the system, okay . Out walkin the trains. Bigad one of the biggest complaints we hear from riders is they frankly dont see officers on bart trains. Bob ive heard it; ive heard that this morning, and so iyou know, i meet with the chief of police every Tuesday Morning at 8 30 in my office, and we go over hiring, and we go over his deployment, and we talked just last tuesday about the need, when theyre out in the system, that they walk the length of the train and that theyre out bein seen. Bigad coming up on derailed. Bigad we want to hear about your experiences on bart, and you told ushundreds of you. Bigad youre a director for bart, and you dont feel safe . Debora allen well, im not immune from it. Im not immune from what goes on, on these trains. Bigad just two days after we released the series, someone died on bart. Bigad if your own chief of police doesnt think he has enough officers to keep people safe, what does that say . The sleep number 360 smart bed. Prices of the season on can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. The queen sleep number 360 c4 smart bed is only 1299. Plus 0 interest for 24 months on all beds. Ends new years day. [ dramatic music ]ing ] ahhhh ahhhh elliott. You came back itreat them all as if, they are hot and energized. Stay away from any downed wire, call 911 and call pg e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. Being in your own personal hell. Jabari jones bart is a [bleep] show. Lorraine williams i cant even watch this without becoming livid. Thewzza im glad this story is being told. Princess mari i seen a dude smoking crack, and a dude was watching porn next to me. Bigad its been a couple of weeks now since we released the first part of our investigation; and ever since then, weve been asking you for your feedback. What are you seeing on bart . And you deliveredhundreds of you. Bigad from phone calls to facebook, email to twitter, youtube, and everything in between, so many of you reached out to keep the conversation going. One rider sent us this video of a woman banging on the doors outside a train. After a bart employee apologized to passengers for the delay, the woman took her top off. Announcer were dealing with an unstable passenger leaning up against the train. Bigad another viewer sent us video on twitter, showing a man going to the bathroom on the tracks. The rider asks, wheres bart police . Elected officials have also weighed in, thanking us for our reporting and describing the series as worth a watch. Even bart employees reached out to us. Male i worked for bart as a train operator, so i see stuff every day. Male i just watched the derailed series, and i cant tell you how much we appreciate it as a bart employee. Its literally like working in a prison without guards. Bigad we mostly heard from frustrated passengers who are relieved weve taken on the story. Female thank you for the bart derailed series. Female thank you for doing this. Female it really means a lot someone is tackling this topic and exposing all these details. Marc mendell my hope is that this Investigation Continues and they follow up with how bart does or doesnt improve. Abbey fernandez wow, these are a lot of comments. Bigad thats Abbey Fernandez abbey so were at the coliseum station. Bigad our digital reporter and host of nbc bay areas instagram show synced in. Abbey coming up, im talking to the producer of our new digital investigation, bart derailed, to see what the fivepart series is all about. Bigad my producer, kevin, and i spent the day with abbey, riding bart to talk to her about the strong reactions weve been getting to this story and how we piece together this whole investigation. Abbey when exactly did you shoot this and for how long . Bigad kevin and i actually just started signing people up for shifts. Id go out, kevin would go out, other members of our investigative unit, all hours of the day, all hours of the night, to basically see what we could see. Bigad heres part of our team explaining things in their own words. Kevin all right, were rollin . Jeremy carroll you definitely see some stuff on bart, for sure. Kevin all right. Jeremy my name is jeremy carroll. Im a photographer with nbc, and i rode bart undercover. Michael horn my names michael horn. I am a photographer for nbc bay area. Anthony rutanashoodech my name is anthony rutanashoodech. Kevin hours of riding bart. Jeremy about 30 hours in all. Michael two or three or four weeks. Kevin the bart cause theres only one bart anyways. Anthony another lady behind us just started cussing out this lady that we were talking to. Female so people asking you for money is horrible . Female it is for me. Thank you. Female uh, yeah, wow, what a privileged [bleep]. Michael never felt unsafe at all. Witnessed a bunch of weird things, but didnt feel unsafe. Kevin smoking on the train, people doing drugs on the traina lot of drugs, actually, a lot of drugs. Michael one of the most interesting things that i saw actually was this welldressed guy, looked like a businessman of some kinddidnt look suspicious at all. Then he just, kind of, glanced over and saw a halfeaten banana in the peel, sitting on the floor underneath one of the seats, and he bent down and picked it up and looked at it really quickly and then unpeeled it and sat down and started to eat it. I thought that was pretty strange. Jeremy the amount of fare jumpers i saw was countless. One time, i actuallymy bart card wasnt working. I kind of looked around, and there wasnt a station agent there, so i literally hopped the fare gate, and ill probably get in trouble for that. Bigad so we ultimately released our fivepart investigative series on bart. We revealed systemic safety problems that could prove dangerous for riders. Two days later, a passenger was murdered on bart. Bigad and you guys were actually riding bart that day . Abbey we were; we were shooting for synced in, you know, the episode, and we were at the warm springs station, shooting there. We got notice of this happening. We then took a trip down, and when we got to the south hayward station, i think thats when it hit me, where i was like, someone was just stabbed, they were killed here. It was my first time on bart. Announcer were learning new information about the man accused of killing a Good Samaritan on bart. Female announcer police say 49yearold oliver williams, who went by tyrone hodges, stopped jermaine brim from stealing another bart passengers shoes, a helpful move that cost williams his life. Bigad that Good Samaritan was a soontobe grandfather. His murder last month reignited calls for bart to improve safety. Female we have to do a roll call vote. Bigad at the first Board Meeting following that deadly attack, bart employees showed up to voice their fear. Female there are safety issues that i was not trained to handle. Bigad debora allen sits on barts board of directors. She acknowledged the concerns and our investigation, asking staff how to fix the problem. Debora allen there was a recent fivepart investigative report that nbc did. It highlighted a lot of the bad behavior that we work with in bart and that were trying to deter. Bigad after that meeting, allen says barts general manager, bob powers, told her hes now confident he will be able to find the 150 million needed to install those new fare gates throughout bart within the next three years. Debora i was actually pleased that somebody put all of this together for people to see. Bigad we joined the director on bart to talk about what we found. Debora for the everyday rider, the value is they are seeing that somebody is exposing what they live with every day. Bigad we also spoke with her about the rise of Violent Crime on bart and the growing unease among passengers. Bigad so why havent we seen substantial change . Debora i dont think theres been a Strong Enough will of the board. Bigad allen says several of her fellow directors dont see a need in hiring any more officers. That includes bart director janice li, who has opposed expanding the force and has called for disarming barts entire Police Department. We reached out to li, as well as every other bart board member for an interview, but debora allen was the only one who agreed to speak with us. Debora and we need to get to a place where weve got an officer in every station at every entrance. Bigad is that realistic, every station . Debora it is realistic, yeah. We have 48 stations now. Right now, we have approximately 40, sometimes 45 officers on duty in the entire system, so we dont even have enough right now to do one in every station, but that should be our goal. Bigad what kind of difference do you think that would make . Debora that would be huge. If we had at least one officer in every station, we would have an Immediate Response to anything that goes on, on the train. Bigad if youre a commuter who regularly relies on bart, and then you hear that someone was killed on the train system that you ride every day, what is that supposed to make them feel . Debora theyre afraid, but i think every rider is thinking about that, that that could happen to them. Bigad do you always feel safe riding bart . Debora no. No, im looking around to me all the time. Bigad youre a director for bart, and you dont feel safe . Debora well, im not immune from it. Im not immune from what goes on, on these trains when i ride. I ride in the same car with everyone else. Bigad for those keeping score at home, thats now a bart director and barts interim police chief whove admitted riding bart sometimes isnt safe. Bob is this your train . Bigad remember, bob powers is the guy in charge of all of bart. Hes the general manager. We spoke to him back in october, just before we released the first part of our investigation. Bigad if your own chief of police doesnt think he has enough officers to keep people safe, what does that say . Bob i think, when he gets fully staffed, bart will be even more responsive to being seen by the public in the system. Bigad the police chief told us hed like to have roughly a hundred officers over the next five years. Bob yeah. Bigad is that realistic . Bob it is. I do. We had a study that was done, and it said that we needed 19 Police Officers for the next, i believe, five years, and our bart board approved the first year that last budget season, and so i have to go to the board every year to get my budget approved, but im gonna put in there, you know, 19 additional Police Officers, and, you know, and hopefully the board will approve that. Bigad if bart police does get the extra money, how will those additional officers be used . Will you feel safer . Will you actually feel safer . And what happens if that plan stalls . This is a story we are definitely gonna continue to follow up on, and we want you to be a part of it. What are you seeing out here . Send us your videos, or even just record yourself explaining what you saw. You can email us, or just get our attention on social media with the hashtag weinvestigate. We wanna hear from you. So tell us, what do you think it will take to get bart back on track . Cc by aberdeen captioning 18006886621 abercap. Com right now at 11 00, wet weather is back in the bay area, on the Golden Gate Bridge certainly, if youre wondering your plans, tracking it for you. News at 11 00, im terry mcsweeney. Rain is still here, live look at sfo, looks wet out there. Earlier today in east bay, roads were dangerous. Got rain on the lens there, toll plaza on the right, richmond Traffic Camera on the left, rain coming down in the south bay too. Windshield wipers going,